Natan Sharansky believes he has found an “elegant” solution to a problem that is currently vexing the Jewish world: let the Jewish Agency determine which communities, congregations and rabbinical authorities are legitimate – at least when it comes to performing conversions for the purposes of Israeli immigration laws.

Sharansky, suggested [...] that the Agency − and not Israel’s Chief Rabbinate − be the entity to which the Interior Ministry would apply to ascertain the validity of conversions in cases involving candidates for immigration.

The solution to the issue Sharansky raises is a government decision that places the matter in the hands of an Israeli governmental body − the Justice Ministry, for example − and enables a pluralistic approach to the matter.

Powers that are part of the fabric of the Jewish state must not be transferred into the hands of a body the majority of whose members are not its citizens.

Prof. Yehezkel Dror served for more than six years as founding president of the Jewish People Policy Institute.

The Jewish Agency has to be redesigned so as to make it the “Jewish People Agency,” in which both Israeli Jews and Diaspora communities will be represented equally.

At the same time the role of Israeli political parties in determining the representation of Israel in the agency should be reduced, as should that of philanthropists in determining the representation of the Diaspora.

Although pronouncements of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate and some leading Orthodox authorities seek to convey the impression that Orthodox standards for conversion are monolithic and always have been, the truth is much more complex.

...Ours is an era of unprecedented complexity in the formation of identity. What we need now is a conversation with each other — about what Jewishness is at its very essence and about how the changing face of world Jewry should and should not be reflected in conversion policy.

We may not necessarily agree, but we will, one hopes, protect the unity, and therefore the survival, of the very people to which committed prospective converts still seek to dedicate their lives.

Regardless of the formal historical, institutional, or national definitions of “who is a Jew,” the experience of identity is layered, shifting, syncretic, and constructed, and it is clear that Jewish identity can be reforged under new circumstances.

Yet, at the same time, the social practices through which individuals and communities of Jews in various parts of the world have challenged conventional understandings of the boundaries of Jewish identity have opened up profound debates on questions of cultural and even biological authenticity.

Jewishness has always exceeded clear-cut categories of racial, ethnic, and religious identity — hence, the ongoing, continually renewed, and multifaceted debates generated by the question, “Who is a Jew?”

Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko is the Judaic scholar at the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

Responses from the 1950s and 1960s, by Israel’s late chief rabbis, Yitzhak Halevi Herzog, Isser Yehuda Unterman, and Shlomo Goren, provide insight: If a non-Jew made aliyah and thus plighted his or her fate with the fate of the Jewish people, then circumcision and immersion in the mikvah, along with a general acceptance of the yoke of mitzvot, were sufficient to effect a halakhically valid conversion.

Mark Washofsky is the Solomon B. Freehof Professor of Jewish Law and Practice at the Hebrew Union College– Jewish Institue of Religion in Cincinnati.

Does the stance of these Haredi rabbis doom any hope for a “conversation”? Not at all.

...A solution, in other words, lies in sight. Its success depends upon the willingness of the broad swath of the rabbinical community to pursue the conversation that Rabbis Gordis and Poupko advocate.

They must pursue it even against the implacable opposition of ultra-Orthodox forces for whom the term “halakhic flexibility” is an anathema. If they do, they will have earned the thanks of klal Yisrael, the entire Jewish people, in Israel and everywhere else.

“Each month, more than 250 people turn to the ITIM hot line seeking information about conversion in Israel,” says [Rabbi Seth] Farber.

“Conversion is one of the tools the Jewish people can use to fight intermarriage and assimilation. Unfortunately, the Israeli rabbinate is under too much pressure to seriously engage this issue for the long term.”

Accepting the ultra-Orthodox worldview, which holds that observance of the religious commandments is the only criterion for conversion, is tantamount to asserting that Zionism has not changed a thing in the perception of Jewish identity.

...Therefore, anyone who views himself as a Zionist must categorically reject the ultra-Orthodox view.

Agreeing to continued ultra-Orthodox abuse of converts for the sake of keeping the peace within the governing coalition is tantamount to agreeing to change the state symbol or the national anthem out of such considerations.

It's all a matter of demography, and there's no one to blame for it, but something essential has changed in the relations between ultra-Orthodox and secular Israelis around the country.

So much for Jerusalem, which we gave up on a long time ago. We also conceded Beit Shemesh, and never had hopes for Bnei Brak. But we were so preoccupied with Jerusalem and the southern towns that we forgot about the rest of the country.

The story of the Bialik-Rogozin School may seem unrealistic when viewed outside of the political context, but it still teaches us something about a kind of normalcy that seeps up from beneath.

Mainly, though, it teaches us about the power of Israeliness, about Hebrew language and culture, and about Israel’s ability to integrate outsiders without losing its identity, culture or Jewish heritage.

This community, and particularly the students of those rabbis, should disassociate themselves from their rabbis' worldview, which is becoming increasingly closer to the ultra-Orthodox one. Israel's justice system is not the "gentiles' court," as was written in the letter.

The organizers of the Jerusalem Conference to be held this month have canceled the participation of former Chief Military Rabbi Israel Weiss, following threats from Gaza evacuees, sources told Haaretz.

Soon our songs of praise became a circle dance – the circle with no end and no beginning – we grasped arms and hands and belted out our carlebach niggun high and wide. Unlike so many visits over the past decade, we continued undisturbed. The rain lightened.

There are no free lunches, even for chief rabbis. British Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who will receive the Ladislaus Laszt Ecumenical and Social Concern Award at a ceremony at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev on March 9, will also have to deliver a lecture on “The Challenge of Religious Difference in a Desecularizing Age.” That’s fair enough.

After all, recipients of awards often deliver an address either before or after the ceremony. But that’s not the end of it. Later in the day, Sacks will participate in a panel discussion on “Pluralism and Normativity in the Jewish Experience.”

His fellow panelists will be Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and Prof. Alice Shalvi, with Prof. Ya’acov Blidstein as moderator.

The Jewish Agency’s recent separation from the World Zionist Organization was a “huge mistake” and the two organizations should reunite as soon as possible, MK and former chairman of both bodies Zeev Bielski ‏(Kadima‏) said this week.

Nearly 60 percent of the country’s elementary schools misallocated funds which the Education Ministry provided them to provide additional hours to support immigrant students, according to a report released this week.

Shaul Magid, a Sh’ma Advisory Committee member, is professor of Religious Studies and the Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein Chair in Jewish Studies in Modern Judaism at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Jews in Israel have always argued, and rightly so, that living as a majority culture enables them to rethink notions of identity and self-fashioning.

In America, the diminishing of antisemitism and the “mongrelization” of Jewish identity (Jews share this with many ethnic minorities) has created another opportunity for Jews to rethink their identity as “Jews” both fully acculturated and interconnected with the ethnic fabric of the society in which they live.

Six MKs will get a crash course on the intricate structure of the organized US Jewish community next month, under a new initiative sponsored by the Boston- and Israel-based Ruderman Family Foundation and Brandeis University The Jerusalem Postlearned on Thursday.

Bitter historical experience teaches that Jewish sovereignty has no substitute. Of course, this does not mean that diaspora Jews should view Israel’s policies as unimpeachable.

On the contrary, precisely because Israel fulfills such a crucial role in safeguarding the continued existence of the Jewish people, Israel’s leaders and citizens ought to take into account what their brothers and sisters abroad have to say.

Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet refusenik and prisoner, Israeli political leader, human rights activist, author, and Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, spoke with HUC-JIR’s Year-In-Israel students on Monday, February 28, 2011.

The evening was arranged under the auspices of ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America, by Rabbi Stanley Davids, former Chair of ARZA and member of the HUC-JIR Board of Overseers in Israel.

I was moved and excited by Sharansky’s emphasis on Jewish Peoplehood during his address. He argued that the same awakening of Jewish identity that occurred in Soviet Jews has happened for the more than 300,000 Birthright Israel participants, and all the more so, for participants in long term Israel programs, such as EIE, NFTY in Israel, or HUC-JIR’s Year in Israel.

As he stated, “Israel doesn’t have any magic Zionism to give you – so what’s happening?” North American Jews who visit Israel are discovering that we have a stake in a history, a people, and a nation – a nation that is exciting and interesting, despite the problems and challenges that we also find here.

By coming here, I expected I would be taking up my responsibility to the Jewish people, vindicating my ancestor's struggles and preserving my Jewish heritage. I was inspired to act and think and fight like the early Zionists.

But of course the reality of immigration is much different. The everyday problems of being an immigrant can at times seem suffocating. I am still decidedly non-religious, and my Hebrew is barely passable.

Not quite azure, more of a midnight blue. That is apparently the actual color of the biblical techelet, according to Prof. Zvi Koren, who spoke this week at the Shenkar College’s International Edelstein Color Symposium.

A recent dramatic decrease in the number of haredi men enrolled in yeshivot is getting contradictory explanations from differing parties.

As of today, there are approximately 8,500 less yeshiva and kollel students receiving state stipends than there were at the end of 2010, a 6.5 percent drop that brings the number down from 130,000 to 121,500.

These numbers were revealed by Ynet on Thursday, and confirmed by the Education Ministry. The state is expected to save approximately NIS 70 million, which it would have otherwise spent on the yeshiva students.

The main reason for the smaller number of students is that many institutions have removed students who fail to attend classes regularly from their lists for fear that the entire institution would be disqualified.

In addition, there are institutions which have ceded budgetary support due to the tougher conditions, and several others which were disqualified in the latest reviews.

Rabbi Uri Regev, director of Hiddush – For Religious Freedom and Equality, said in response: "The fear of inspection has led to the 'deletion' of thousands of students and helped the State to save tens of millions of shekels.

By Michal Raz-Chaimovitz and Dafna Harel-Kfir www.globes.co.il February 27, 2011

Discounts on bank accounts, mobile phone rates, public transportation, psychometric exam course, and infant products are just a few of the benefits that companies offer haredim (ultra-orthodox) in Israel.

These discounts come on top of the government subsidies for day care, kindergarten, arnona (local property tax), yeshiva students, and more.

The benefits are based on companies' marketing calculations to captureharedi consumers. In effect, ordinary consumers, who pay the full price, are subsidizing the haredim. In other words, religiosity pays.

Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Shalom Simhon on Tuesday toured haredi areas to investigate ways of integrating a larger percentage of the community into the labor force.

...Simhon said there was no reason why young haredim couldn’t combine a career with their religious studies, just as secular people combine their careers with other pursuits.

According to statistics from the National Council for Economics in the Prime Minister’s Office, about 37 percent of haredi men participate in the workforce, compared with 67% of the total male population, while 48% of haredi women participate, compared with 57% overall. The haredi population numbers about 700,000 people, close to 10% of Israel’s population.

Minister of Housing and Construction Ariel Atias agreed on a new plan with senior executives of the Association of Contractors and Builders in Israel to employ haredi (ultra orthodox) yeshiva students in the construction industry, "Yediot Ahronot" reports. The yeshiva students would earn a monthly salary of NIS 15,000.

Parents in Jerusalem rallied on Sunday morning against the haredi separation barrier built between secular and religious kindergartens.

The parents of children who attend Pashosh kindergarten in Kiryat Hayovel protested against the separation fence established between the secular kindergarten and the haredi kindergarten Etz Hadaat next door.

The Jerusalem Municipality on Friday began constructing a separation fence between two kindergartens, an ultra-Orthodox and a secular one, highlighting the complex relations between the different communities living in the capital.

Shas’s Ma’ayan Hinuch Torani educational network will revert to taking part in the Meitzav achievement exams after a three-year hiatus, the Education Ministry informed the High Court of Justice on Monday.

The announcement was part of the ministry’s answer to a petition filed by the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) last year, which charged that the state had failed to keep its promise to increase the supervision of the haredi schools regarding not only the core curriculum – which still applies to recognized but unofficial primary and secondary schools and “exempted” schools – but also other standards, such as the minimum number of visits by school supervisors each year, the number of teaching hours, the schoolbooks in the curriculum, the levels of learning achievement, and so on.

The director of Hiddush - For Religious Freedom and Equality – Rabbi Uri Regev said: "Including the Meitzav tests in the Shas education system is a step forward in efforts to integrate general studies into the haredi education system, which will allow the state to follow up on the quality of education in the schools in a real and meaningful way."

MKs called on the government to increase funding for Chabad educational institutions worldwide, and to restore the budget for Jewish education in the Diaspora, which has been reduced by nearly 80 percent in recent decades.

The Committee for Appointing Rabbinical Judges on Tuesday chose Rabbi Shlomo Dichovsky as director of the Rabbinic Courts for four years.

Dichovsky, who retired from the Supreme Rabbinic Court two years ago, is a haredi rabbinic judge who is considered relatively open-minded and progressive, a combination that enabled the haredi and national-religious members of the committee to agree on his appointment.

Wrangling between Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman prevented yesterday's planned appointment of a permanent chairman of the rabbinical court system and the selection of judges for the High Rabbinical Court.

There should be a way to dismiss neighborhood rabbis who do not adequately serve their communities, Kadima MK Otniel Schneller said Tuesday, during a State Control Committee follow-up discussion on a recent scathing State Comptroller’s Report.

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, one of the leading religious authorities who signed a letter in support of Moshe Katsav, explained to his students at the Ateret Yerushalayim Yeshiva why he was so forgiving towards the former president, who was convicted of two counts of rape and sexual harassment.

The rabbi said his stance stemmed from one of the judges' religious identities, the media pressure the court was subject to and the essence of Israeli law, which he believes does not allow for real justice.

All these have a single goal: to show a population torn between Jewish law and the rabbis, one the one hand, and the state and its laws, on the other, that Jewish law - or at least the fanatic Haredi-religious Zionist version of it - has won, and the state has collapsed.

Justice, law, the army, the Knesset and the cabinet, and of course, freedom of speech and democracy in general are all as dust at the rabbis' feet.

These rabbis, similar to political tyrants, forgot one of the commandments, a commandment which when absent makes religion in general and the leader, religious or secular, a destructive force.

It is a commandment which our tradition teaches is the only one for which there is no atonement in this world if violated. In the Jewish tradition, this commandment is called hillul hashem, the desecration of God's name.

A top rabbi in the Religious-Zionist movement urged the prime minister on Tuesday to open dialogue before dismantling West Bank settlements. The comment came a day after police clashed with settlers after the demolishment of a West Bank outpost earlier in the day.

Rabbi Chaim Drukman sent a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that the "land is on fire" after Monday's violent clashes.

Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, head of the Zomet Institute dedicated to merging Halachic Judaism with modern life, has launched a scathing attack on a Knesset Member of the Independence faction over her marriage to a non-Jewish man.

He made his statement following reports that Wilf would be appointed chairwoman of the Knesset's Education Committee.

Evelyn Gordon is a journalist and commentator on public affairs. Hadassah Levy is website manager for Jewish Ideas Daily.

Halacha’s successful adaptation to the needs of exile preserved the Jews for 2,000 years. But by stymieing its readaptation to the needs of revived Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, its most zealous adherents are doing it a disservice.

Not only are they preventing it from fulfilling its original mission—i.e., providing Jewish solutions to the problems of a sovereign Jewish state—but they are also undervaluing the purpose of its exilic adaptation: The preservation of the Jewish people as a people.

Last Friday morning, I received a call from a senior Prime Minister's Bureau official. He said that a special telephone called a "Shabbatphone," invented by the Zomet Institute, which develops technologies for the religiously observant, has been installed in the homes of the Sabbath-observant officials.

A special mechanism lets a person place a call without desecrating the Sabbath. When the phone rings, it's probably the prime minister, or someone on his behalf. All the religious officials talk on the Sabbath with the prime minister, and among themselves, as much as necessary, said the official.

A new course launched recently trains 30 "marriage counselors" – the modest equivalent of secular sexologists – who will combine halachic aspects in their discreet counseling.

The course is being held at the Puah Institute, which for the past 20 years has been specializing in giving consultation, direction and help to couples suffering from gynecological problems and infertility.

Leaders of the Vizhnitz Hasidism have issued new instructions in regards to the purchase of eyeglasses, as part of their attempt to combat modernization.

In a special sermon to the young yeshiva students of the Hasidic dynasty, considered one of the biggest in the haredi sector, Rabbi Israel Hager, the successor of the Vizhnitz Hasidism's founder, discussed the dangers inherent in modernizations on the secular street and urged the students not to wear metal glasses and contact lenses.

Shas chairman Minister of Interior Eli Yishai today threatened on "Voice of Israel Radio" that the party would quit the government if it did not approve a plan for addressing the housing shortage by increasing the supply of homes.

“There will be a social catastrophe here if we do not learn to provide land and address the horrible bureaucracy,” Interior Minister Eli Yishai told a conference on planning and construction yesterday.

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef - the spiritual leader of the Shas movement, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi and a sage highly respected by both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews has taken ill, and has asked his followers to pray for his health.

Shas chairman and Interior Minister Eli Yishai did just that Wednesday, at the Tomb of Shimon HaTzaddik (Simon the Just) in Jerusalem.

...He knows that anyone who doesn't resign, who doesn't accept responsibility, triumphs over decency. One can only imagine what would have happened had Netanyahu decided that the coalition could do without Shas.